An Iranian oil tanker has broken down in the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia but its crew are safe and carrying out repairs, the oil ministry's website said on Wednesday. The HELM suffered a "technical fault" about 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of the Saudi port of Yanbu on Tuesday, the ministry's website said, citing the National Iranian Tanker Company.
"The crew of the tanker are busy fixing the defect and the vessel is in a stable situation from a safety standpoint," the NITC's technical director Akbar Jabalameli was quoted as saying. The crew of the tanker was safe and "in full readiness to solve the problem", he added.
TankerTrackers.com, which monitors ship movements, said the HELM was carrying 1.3 million barrels of crude oil and heading towards the Suez Canal from the Iranian island of Kharg. The vessel appears on the US Treasury's website in a list of entities subject to American sanctions.
It is the second such Iranian breakdown in recent months after the tanker Happiness 1 was forced to seek repairs in the Saudi port of Jeddah port that reportedly cost the Islamic republic $10 million.